Nicholas H. Roby is an Assistant Professor of Law at Drake University Law School and Special Counsel at Dentons Davis Brown in Des Moines, Iowa. His teaching and practice focus on federal taxation, business organizations, business transactions, finance, real estate, and related transactional planning.
Roby has more than 40 years of experience as a lawyer, business executive, and law professor. He began his legal career with Davis Brown in 1984, practicing primarily in the areas of taxation, business organizations, and commercial transactions. In 2005, he joined BH Management and BH Equities, a leading national multifamily real estate owner and manager, where he served first as General Counsel and later as President. He returned to Davis Brown in 2015 and continues to practice on a part-time basis while teaching at Drake Law School.
From 2020 through 2025, Roby served as Clinical Professor of Law and Director of Drake Law School’s Entrepreneurial and Transactional Law Clinic, where he supervised law students representing entrepreneurs, small businesses, and nonprofit organizations in a broad range of transactional matters. He has also taught Mergers and Acquisitions. In 2026, he returned to the Law School as an Assistant Professor of Law, with a particular focus on federal taxation and business law.
Roby earned his J.D., with High Distinction, from the University of Iowa College of Law, where he was elected to the Order of the Coif. He received his undergraduate degree, summa cum laude, from Iowa State University, studying economics and industrial administration/accounting. He is an Iowa attorney and Certified Public Accountant.
